Radio Havana Cuba-14 September 2001 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 14 September 2001 . *IN HAVANA, VISITING US PHYSICIANS SPEAK OF COMPASSION OF CUBAN PEOPLE *CUBAN MUSICIANS DONATE BLOOD IN LOS ANGELES *TELEVISED ROUNDTABLE EXAMINES TERRORIST ACTIONS *RICARDO ALARCON MEETS WITH PRESIDENT OF BURKINA FASO *CUBA SENDS MORE DOCTORS TO NIGER *PRESIDENT OF MALI CONTINUES VISIT TO THE ISLAND *ATTACKS AND THREATS INCREASE AGAINST ARAB-AMERICANS AND US MUSLIMS *AFGHANISTAN BRACES FOR POSSIBLE US RETALIATION FOLLOWING ATTACKS *INFLUENTIAL CONSERVATIVE RELIGIOUS LEADERS IN PAKISTAN OPPOSE COOPERATION WITH US *Viewpoint: ECONOMIC RECOVERY, BUT NOT AS FAST AS CUBA WOULD LIKE . *IN HAVANA, VISITING US PHYSICIANS SPEAK OF COMPASSION OF CUBAN PEOPLE Havana, September 14 (RHC)--In Havana on Friday, a group of prominent US medical experts highlighted Friday the attitude of compassion and sympathy shown by the Cuban population with regard to the tragedy in the United States. The visitors also condemned Washington's blockade against Cuba. The team of US doctors, five eminent physicians, including two former surgeons general, travelled to Havana accompanied by Bob Schwartz, executive director of the New York-based Disarm Education Fund, an organization that has brought over $65 million worth of humanitarian aid to the island over the past few years. Schwartz told RHC he was deeply impressed by the reaction of the Cuban population with regard to the tragedy the US people are now living. "I think all of us, this entire delegation, was overwhelmed by the concern that all of the Cubans, not just the doctors, not just the health officials, everybody in Cuba has expressed to us, whether it's a taxi driver, a hotel employee -people on the street come up to us. And everyone is shocked by what they've seen on television, hearing on the radio, and they're all very concerned, they're all very sympathetic, Schwartz said. The director of the Disarm Education Fund also told RHC that he's shocked about the events in the U.S., but has mixed feelings: "I have very mixed feelings about what I see. I'm watching the television and I'm shocked at what has happened in the United States. But I also think about the way the embargo, over the past 40 years, has created so much need and suffering and death in Cuba. I think it's a time while we're looking at how disasters affect the United States we should also be looking at the impact that embargoes -- it's not just the Cuban embargo, it's all embargoes. They kill just as surely as bombs and bullets and we need to end embargoes." *CUBAN MUSICIANS DONATE BLOOD IN LOS ANGELES Los Angeles, September 14 (RHC)--Cuban musicians in Los Angeles, California, have donated blood for the injured victims of Tuesday's tragic events in New York City and Washington. The island's nominees for the Latin Grammy Awards -- including internationally renowned pianist Chucho Valdes and singer Isaac Delgado -- went to a local pediatric hospital to donate their blood. They told reporters in Los Angeles that they unanimously decided to take this action in solidarity with those killed and injured in the recent terrorist attacks. The Latin Grammy Awards ceremony, originally scheduled to take place in Los Angeles Tuesday evening, was indefinitely postponed following the events of that morning. *TELEVISED ROUNDTABLE EXAMINES TERRORIST ACTIONS Havana, September 14 (RHC)--For the second consecutive night, Cuban radio and television carried in-depth coverage on Thursday of the recent terrorist attacks that took place in the United States. On Thursday the roundtable discussion -- broadcast live each night -- analyzed the latest events in New York City and Washington, DC, in light of Tuesday's attacks. It was emphasized that there have been increasing reports of threats against Arab-Americans in a number of U.S. cities. Cuban journalists and experts in international affairs noted that the principal suspect, according to Washington, is Osama Bin Laden -- who was trained in terrorist activities by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, the CIA. Panelists pointed out that it was not ironic that the presumed attackers would have CIA training, noting that even the suspected pilots received their training in the United States. Another warning was issued by participants of Thursday's roundtable, stressing that the U.S. military was gearing up for a major action in response to the recent attacks inside the United States. Panelists reiterated that additional violence would only mean the loss of more innocent lives and generate even more violent reactions against Washington. *RICARDO ALARCON MEETS WITH PRESIDENT OF BURKINA FASO Ouagadougou, September 14 (RHC)--Cuban Parliament President Ricardo Alarcón has met with the President of Burkina Faso, Blaise Compaore. Alarcón is in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, leading the island's delegation to the 106th Conference of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the IPU. Among the topics discussed by Cuba's legislative leader and the African head of state were the tragic events that have taken place in the United States in recent days. Both leaders issued a strong condemnation of Tuesday's terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, DC. Alarcón and the President Blaise Compaore also expressed their determination to work for greater cooperation between the two countries. It was noted that the Seventh Mixed Commission between Cuba and Burkina Faso, held in Havana in July, concentrated bilateral relations in the areas of health and sports. Addressing delegates to the 106th Conference of the Inter-Parliamentary Union on Wednesday, Alarcón called for a greater representation from the African continent in the legislative organization, pointing out that there has been a marked increase in African members to the Inter-Parliamentary Union. The Cuban legislative leader also called on the IPU to express its solidarity with the Palestinian people and condemn the continued occupation of Arab territories by Israel. *CUBA SENDS MORE DOCTORS TO NIGER Havana, September 14 (RHC)--Cuba and Niger have signed an agreement to increase the island's integral health program to the African nation. The accord will provide 30 additional doctors and medical personnel in the coming days. According to the agreement -- signed in Havana on Thursday by Cuba's Minister of Foreign Investment and Economic Cooperation Marta Lomas and Niger's Foreign Minister Nassirou Sabo -- bilateral relations will be increased in the areas of health care, education, sports, culture and tourism. Wrapping up an official visit to the island, Niger's foreign minister expressed his satisfaction with the Third Session of a Mixed Commission on Economic, Scientific-Technical, Cultural and Commercial Collaboration between the two countries. Foreign Investment Minister Marta Lomas told reporters in Havana that there are presently 25 doctors from the island voluntarily donating their services in Niger. She said that, including the additional 30 doctors who would leave shortly for the African nation, this number could increase to 90 over the coming weeks and months. *PRESIDENT OF MALI CONTINUES VISIT TO THE ISLAND Havana, September 14 (RHC)--The president of the African nation of Mali, Alpha Oumar Konare, continues an official visit to the island at the invitation of his Cuban counterpart Fidel Castro. On Friday, the visiting African leader toured the International School of Sports and Physical Education and the Museum of Fine Arts. Speaking with reporters, the president of Mali said he was extremely pleased with his visit so far, particularly his talks with Cuban President Fidel Castro. During his four-day official visit, which will run through Saturday, the African president and his accompanying delegation have visited areas of economic, scientific and historic interest. *ATTACKS AND THREATS INCREASE AGAINST ARAB-AMERICANS AND US MUSLIMS Washington, September 14 (RHC)--Reports of anti-Arab attacks in the United States have continued. Someone who apparently mistook a law office in San Francisco's Mission District for an Islamic Community Center hurled a bag filled with blood at the building's door. The name Osama bin Laden, a Saudi fugitive linked by authorities to the terror attacks in New York and Washington, was scrawled on the bag. In northern California's Afghani neighborhood in Fremont, residents say they feel a growing sense of unease and fear at the prospect of becoming scapegoats. After threats were made on the Granada Islamic School in Santa Clara, California, its 400 students were quickly sent home. The school will remain closed for the rest of the week. In Bridgeview, Illinois, police turned back 300 marchers waving American flags and shouting "USA" as they tried to march on a mosque in the Chicago suburb. Also in Chicago, a firebomb was tossed at an Arab-American community center, with no injuries reported. In Chicago's Palos Heights suburb, a man was charged with a hate crime for attacking a gas station attendant he believed was Arab with the blunt end of a machete. On Thursday, a Molotov cocktail was thrown against the side of the Islamic Society of Denton, Texas, causing an estimated $2,500 woth of in damage. The building was empty and there were no injuries. In Huntington, New York, a 75-year-old man who was drunk tried to run over a Pakistani woman in the parking lot of a shopping mall. The man then followed the woman into a store and threatened to kill her for, in his words, "destroying my country." A man in a ski mask in Gary, Indiana fired an assault rifle at gas station attendant Hassan Awdah, a US citizen born in Yemen. Tamara Alfson, an American working at the Kuwait embassy in Washington, is reportedly counselling frightened Kuwaiti students attending schools across the United States. Abu Nahidian, director of the Manassas Mosque in Virginia, said his congregation has been the target of insults and hate messages left on the office answering machine. A mosque in Lynnwood, Washington, was vandalized and no one showed up for afternoon prayers at the Islamic Center in Spokane. In East Lansing, Michigan, a shot was fired into the home of a Muslim family next door to the Islamic center, while windows were broken at the Muslim Students Association office at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. In Dearborn, Michigan, Issam Koussan told "The Detroit News" that he bought large US flags to fly in front of his home and outside his supermarket after men pulled into his parking lot and yelled threats and racial slurs at his customers. Anti-Arab sentiments, however, are not confined to the United States. In Brisbane, Australia, a schoolbus carrying Muslim children was the target of stone-throwers, while vandals also tried to set fire to a Lebanese church in that city. *AFGHANISTAN BRACES FOR POSSIBLE US RETALIATION FOLLOWING ATTACKS Kabul, September 14 (RHC)--Frightened people in Afghanistan are reportedly bracing for possible US retaliation, fleeing the capital, Kabul, or digging trenches on the outskirts of the city. Reuters news correspondents in Kabul have reported that while it is not clear how many Arab nationals live in Afghanistan, residents said almost all had left central Kabul. Afghan-Arabs -- a term encompassing virtually all non-Afghan Muslim militants regardless of their origin -- were also reported to have evacuated their bases elsewhere in the country. Muslim militants from the Middle East, Philippines, Central Asia and China have long used Afghanistan as a training base. With television banned, Reuters reported that Kabul residents could be seen with small transistor radios pressed to their ears listening to foreign broadcasts. Diplomats from Australia, Germany and the United States, in Kabul with relatives of eight Christian aid workers on trial for promoting Christianity, have reportedly left for Pakistan. Afghanistan's Taliban regime, meanwhile, has warned that retaliatory US strikes would succeed only in sowing hatred in the region and possibly lead to suicide attacks similar to those that occurred in New York and Washington. *INFLUENTIAL CONSERVATIVE RELIGIOUS LEADERS IN PAKISTAN OPPOSE COOPERATION WITH US Islamabad, September 14 (RHC)--While the government of Pakistan was quick to announce support of any US anti-terrorism actions, authorities in Islamabad reportedly fear the reaction of conservative religious groups opposed to cooperating with Washington. Pakistani religious leaders have voiced their opposition to the use of the country's land or air space for any eventual attack against Afghanistan. Pakistan is the principle ally of the fundamentalist Islamic Taliban regime in Afghanistan currently providing safe haven for Saudi Osama Bin Laden, the primary suspect in the attacks against New York and Washington, as well as the 1998 attacks against US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Members of the fundamentalist Jamiat Ulema Islam Party went as far as to say that an attack against Afghanistan would be considered a violation of Pakistan's sovereignty and a conspiracy against the country's military and nuclear capacity. According to press reports, Islamabad understands that allying itself with Washington against Afghanistan would spark outrage among the population, while also fearing that to refuse cooperation could bring about economic sanctions and an inclusion of the country on the list of terrorist nations. According to the Friday edition of the English-language Pakistani daily "The News," the government's concerns are comprehensible given, what it called Washington's biased policies towards the Muslim world. Significantly, in 1998 the Pakistani government refused the US permission to overfly its airspace as Washington sought revenge for the bombing of its embassies in Africa. *Viewpoint: ECONOMIC RECOVERY, BUT NOT AS FAST AS CUBA WOULD LIKE >From the economic and social standpoint, Cuba is not in as bad a shape as its enemies say. Nonetheless, it is not as good as we would like. There is no doubt that today Cubans enjoy better economic welfare compared with the last decade in which Cuba went through the sharpest economic crisis ever known in its history. Despite the fact that some social differences have become more apparent in Cuban society as a result of the measures taken to tackle the so-called Special Period or economic crisis, the Cuban economy has steadily recovered. On Wednesday and Thursday, presidents from municipal governments around the capital met to analyze the results of work carried out over the past ten years, as well as review perspectives of the Cuban economy for the Cuban people. At the meeting, important issues were evaluated including the sustainability of economic recovery, associated with a modest improvement in the economic conditions of the population. In addition to this, great advances in the electrification of isolated communities have been registered, as well as the addition of aqueducts in rural areas. There have also been great advances in the gasification of Havana and Santiago de Cuba homes. Since 1989 to the current day, the average salary has increased from 188 to 234 Cuban pesos. The increase occurred over a period in which the national currency recovered seven times its value, employment increased and development of agriculture was evident. However, there are many obstacles left to overcome, such as problems associated with housing. The area of construction has advanced slowly, facing problems of financing, investment and the scarcity of materials. It is also important to achieve an increase in the production of food through a more efficient management of agriculture and industry. Despite all the internal problems we are facing, Cuba is a privileged country compared with other nations of Latin America and the Third World, since the Cuban government has the will, desire and interest in meeting the population's expectations, not only in the fields of education, health, sports and culture, but also in the most elementary needs that make up the life of the Cuban people. During this meeting of presidents from municipal governments, the executive secretary of the Council of Ministers, Carlos Lage, highlighted the Cuban people's valor in the construction of a new society based on unity and solidarity. He said that there are still major obstacles and limitations on the people that impose great sacrifices upon them. Nevertheless, the people of this island have overcome the most difficult moments of the economic crisis, or Special Period, and the Revolution is now stronger than ever before. (c) 2001 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. All rights reserved. ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= rhc-eng-1403 2001-Sep-14 23:51:54